ds, 10 mos, hit his head on the floor today after his sister tried to pick him up. he did the silent cry for a minute, you know where they have catch their breath and then he let out a wail. then he passed out for about 7 seconds and then woke up and cried and i nursed him and then he was totally fine. this is the second time he has passed out like this after taking a spill. the first time was not a bad one at all.

I do not think that is normal. If an adult passes out after a bonk on the head you go to the ER. I would not treat a child any differently. Most pediatricians have an advice nurse you can call, you could call the nurse and ask their opinion.

My son did this all the time. I would call the dr, but be prepared for it to happen a lot more. Ds did not outgrow it until he was 4-4.5. He was the most clumsy child, always hitting his head. You will learn the big signs to watch out for. I always thought throwing up was a big deal, throwing up once is not, throwing up repeatedly is. Check his pupils. At one point ds started shaking as he started gaining consciousness. We did an EEg, but it was normal. Sometimes their limbs just start jerking a bit as they come around. Oh, and the pede said when we went to the ER that it was fruitless to go if they only did an x-ray. It doesn't show anything except a skull fracture, so if we were going to the er they needed to do a cat scan.

"Loss of consciousness. If your child blacks out, even for a few seconds, this can mean that the force of the bump was strong enough to cause a hematoma." (bleeding which can put pressure on the brain)

Loss of consciousness. If your child blacks out, even for a few seconds, this can mean that the force of the bump was strong enough to cause a hematoma. A reassuring sign is that you either hear or see your child start to cry immediately after the bump. This means he did not lose consciousness

There's a difference between being knocked out by a bonk on the head and passing out from a hard cry, which is what I think is happeningfrom your description:

The typical spell goes as follows - baby starts crying, continues exhaling as he cries, cannot stop the exhaling cry in order to take a breath, starts to turn blue on the lips and face, passes out, finally takes as deep breath and wakes up. He may be groggy for a minute or two afterwards.

thanks so much for all of the swift responses! i spoke with the doc and he believes that ds is totally fine. he said it sounds like he is just sort of passing out from holding his breath before he lets out the big cry. that was my gut, but i am glad for the confirmation.

Sounds like my two youngest sisters. The first one passed out at around your son's age for the first time. Mom called the Dr. and he warned her that anytime sister got really upset she may hold her breath and pass out. Sure enough, she did it on semi-regular basis.

Younger sister number two only did it a few times, mostly between age 4-8.